Human Instinct
by Serdd
Summary: One-Shot. Another alternate ending to Journey's End. Trust me, I think you'll like it! Just a little something fun to make you smile. :D


**Human Instinct**

"No. No! NO! No, Doctor, no! You can't! No!" Donna yelled, her body jerking suddenly, and her arms flailing as she struggled in his grasp. She knew what he was about to do. And she was determined that she would rather be killed by the Time Lord energy, than go back to what she was before. She would rather die than forget all that she had seen, all that she had done, all that she had become…because of him. Even though he had given her that, given her the universe and time itself; didn't mean that he was allowed to take it back.

With one final shove Donna pushed the Doctor away; accidentally sending him crashing into one of the curved coral columns that appeared to hold up the ceiling of the TARDIS.

The Doctor's face had the same look of total surprise as Donna's when he bounced off of the column, and then disappeared through a gap in the grating.

"Doctor!" Donna screamed, racing to the four foot gap that he had fallen through.

Donna gasped in horror as she looked down to see the Doctor struggling for breath, as he pulled the sharp length of broken piping that had broken his fall, out of his stomach.

"Doctor! Oh god! Doctor!" Donna shouted, jumping down into the gap to hold him, and try to stop the bleeding.

"Oh, damn." He wheezed, looking up at the ceiling. "Not again." He huffed.

Donna realized what was happening too late, and was still holding him, as the gold-multi-coloured energy shot from his limbs.

With a shock Donna realised that she could, once again, feel the energy of the metacrisis flowing through her body. But this time on a much more massive scale. She could feel it in her chest, making it feel almost...overcrowded. And in her mind, she could once again feel the energy rushing across her mind, over and over, never stopping, a constant flow of energy.

Distantly, Donna remembered that the gift she was receiving was meant to be healing energy, and, while she wondered why it seemed to be concentrating on her heart and head; the more pressing question was whether or not the energy would work on a human at all.

As another wave washed over her, Donna prayed that it would heal her mind, and allow her to stay with the Doctor.

Forever.

Just as they had planned.

As the energy ebbed, the Doctor and Donna lay side by side, breathing heavily.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that." Donna mumbled, rubbing her hands over her face.

"Yeaaahh, well, takes some getting used to." The Doctor said, shrugging as best he could while on his back.

Groaning, Donna sat up, and looked down at him.

"Doctor, are you alright?"

"Oh yeeaaahhhh!" He sighed. "I'm fine." He hummed, closing his eyes.

"Doctor, I'm so, so sorry!"

His eyes popped open, and he turned his head to look at her accusingly. "Oh, right, that reminds me; wha'd you do that for?" he asked looking at her bewildered and just a little hurt.

"I didn't mean to!" Donna blushed, fussing over him as she helped him up. "Part earth girl remember? Survival instinct."

He raised an eyebrow at her, and she shrugged in apology.

"Right, no memory theft, noted." The Doctor said flippantly, with a sigh.

"Oh!" Donna exclaimed, raising her hands to her head, as her knees went weak.

"Donna!" The Doctor cried, holding her tightly as he lowered them both back to the floor.

"Doctor...what, what happened? Doctor..." Donna murmured, releasing her head and looking up at him in wonder.

"What? What is it Donna, what do you feel?" The Doctor asked, running his hands up her arms and to her head.

It was unconsciously done, but as the Doctor reached for her head, Donna jerked back in his arms, pulling away from him. She was afraid that, even though her pain was gone and the crisis seemed to be over, he might act hastily and remove her memories before he realized that he didn't need to.

"Relax Donna, I'm not going to touch your memories, I swear, I'm just going to take a little peak inside you mind, that's all. Nothing to be afraid of." He said reassuringly, looking into her eyes.

With a cautious nod, Donna relaxed and leaned slightly forward.

When the Doctor's finger tips touched her head, both closed their eyes, as, unlike any time before, both could see the journey the doctor was taking through Donna's mind.

"Incredible..." The Doctor mumbled aloud as they continued to travel her mind, both watching in wonder as it seemed to contort it's self into new shapes and complex pathways in some spots, and healing and melding in others.

"But-but, but that's not possible." Donna whispered with a mixture of awe and fear.

Hearing her unease, the Doctor retreated from her mind, pulling her out with him. For a long second, they just stared at each other.

Then, in a flash of movement, both had a hand on Donna's chest.

"Oi! Hands!" She yelled, slapping his hand away, and making the Doctor blush.

"Oh, right, ah, sorry." He stumbled, raising his hand again, this time to her sternum. Both gasped at the feel of her double heartbeat.

"The metacrisis." The Doctor breathed in realisation. And Donna's eyes widened as well when she realised what had happened.

"There's never been a human-Time Lord metacrisis...because there can't be." She whispered.

Excitedly, the Doctor picked up where Donna trailed off.

"That last regeneration, it was exactly like with my hand. I didn't want to change, I just needed to heal myself; but there was nowhere else for the excess energy to go. I had to either use it and change, or release it. I had thought that by releasing it, it may just be absorbed by the TARDIS or simply disappear. What I didn't take into account was that when you touched my hand, and absorbed the original metacrisis, what you had absorbed was my energy."

Donna's eyes lit up as she understood exactly what he was getting at. "It's like the huron particles all over again!" She said with excitement, grabbing the Doctor's hands and pulling them both from the grating, to stand beside the center console. "It acted like a magnet! The excess metacrisis needed a similar molecular structure to be absorbed into! But there wasn't one; there was only the energy that I had absorbed from the previous metacrisis! Doctor! Does...does this mean what I think it means?"

The Doctor was grinning so wide Donna could barely see his eyes. "I dare say it does. You, Donna Nobel, are now Time Lord, or, Lady, I suppose would be the correct term."

Grinning in return, Donna shoved him playful, "well, gee, thanks for noticing spaceman."

"You're welcome spacegirl." He hummed, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Understanding what he meant, Donna burst out laughing, and flung her arms around him; squealing with joy, when he spun off her feet.

'_Forever…'_

The Doctor and Donna both shivered in excitement as the word, and all of its meanings and connotations flashed through their heads.

2


End file.
